CHAPTER the First.
I Am Born and Begin to Take Notice--John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson--James K.Polk and Franklin Pierce--Jack Dade and "Beau Hickman"-- Old Times in Washington I I am asked to jot down a few autobiographic odds and ends from such data of record and memory as I may retain.

I have been something of a student of life; an observer of men and women and affairs; an appraiser of their character, their conduct, and, on occasion, of their motives.

Thus, a kind of instinct, which bred a tendency and grew to a habit, has led me into many and diverse companies, the lowest not always the meanest.
Circumstance has rather favored than hindered this bent.

I was born in a party camp and grew to manhood on a political battlefield.

I have lived through stirring times and in the thick of events.